


The White String of Fate

by GallifreyanFairytale



Series: Aromantic/Asexual fics [6]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Non-Magical, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Aromantic Ginny Weasley, Aromantic Luna Lovegood, Gen, Platonic Relationships, Platonic Soulmates, Red String of Fate, but no magic besides that, i mean i guess the strings could be considered magical
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-23
Updated: 2018-10-23
Packaged: 2019-08-06 14:14:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,913
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16389248
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GallifreyanFairytale/pseuds/GallifreyanFairytale
Summary: Luna could see the red strings connecting everyone to their soulmates, and she could see that she didn't have one, which didn't bother her much in the beginning.





	The White String of Fate

**Author's Note:**

  * In response to a prompt by [wishie](https://archiveofourown.org/users/wishie/pseuds/wishie) in the [GenAndAroPrompts](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/GenAndAroPrompts) collection. 



> Prompt:
> 
> Luna Lovegood is aromantic and nobody can convince me otherwise.
> 
> Some ideas:  
> \- Platonic soulmates  
> \- Queerplatonic relationships  
> \- Coming of age  
> \- Just plain friendship <3
> 
> I went for the platonic soulmates idea because that was the one that inspired me. Also, I spent months trying to come up with a good ending for this, but I couldn't figure anything out, so the ending is kind of abrupt. Sorry.

Luna could see the strings.

 

Almost every person had a red string tied to their pinky finger, attaching them to the person they would one day fall in love with and marry. Because the strings existed on what seemed to be an alternate plane of reality, they never broke. They could occasionally get twisted, or even knotted, but they never, ever, broke. And people could generally not see them.

 

But Luna could.

 

Maybe the fact that she could see the strings had something to do with the fact that she did not have a string. Luna didn’t mind much, though, because she was rather disinterested in romance herself. She smiled when she saw a couple who’s strings connected walking down the street, how could she not? When it was just holding hands, it seemed so wholesome. But when Luna remembered that romance was far more than just holding hands, she wanted to shrink away. Having a soulmate, for lack of a better word, sounded nice in theory, but in reality, Luna simply didn’t understand.

 

The first real friend Luna made had a string that stretched far beyond the horizon.

 

His name had been Harry Potter, and he had round glasses and messy black hair. He was one of the first people who didn’t treat Luna as if she were any different than the rest of the students in their class. He always spoke kindly to her, even after she told him she could see the strings. Even after she told him she didn’t have one. Harry’s two closest friends had strings that attached to each other, but Luna didn’t say anything. They would realize it when fate allowed them to.

 

Luna was twelve the first time she saw someone else like her.

 

She was at a festival that was celebrating something she couldn’t remember, standing close to her father so she didn’t get lost in the crowds of people who were all taller than her. She couldn’t remember why she even agreed to go to the festival because now that she was here, it seemed like the complete opposite of everything she enjoyed. There were so many people and so many noises and the sun was catching her skin on fire because she’d forgotten to put sunscreen on her face. The colors were nice, though. Perhaps Luna had come for the colors. She let her eyes dance from color to color as her father spoke with someone about something Luna didn’t particularly find interesting. Eventually, her eyes landed on an elderly man painting a portrait of a dragon and Luna had never felt more drawn towards anything. There were so many colors and it was a _dragon_. How could she not be intrigued?

 

Luna’s eyes fell to the man’s pinky.

 

Her eyes always fell to the pinky of any person she ever came into contact with. It was a habit Luna wasn’t very fond of, but a habit all the same. She expected to see a red string tied to the man’s finger, but when she looked, there was nothing. Upon further inspection, Luna saw that the man also didn’t have a wedding band encircling his left ring finger. Not that it mattered much; people didn’t lose their strings if their spouse passed away. Luna didn’t get to observe much more than that because she felt her father’s hand on her back and his voice telling her it was time to walk some more.

 

Luna was eighteen the first time she saw a white string.

 

Every string she had ever seen up to that point had been red. She’d seen a few more people without strings, but it was always either red string or no string. There were no other options that Luna had seen or ever heard of. And yet, here she was in a coffee shop, waiting for a cotton candy drink that hopefully had some amount of caffeine in it, looking at a couple her age whose pinkies were connected by a white string.

 

But they weren’t really a couple, were they?

 

They were seated across from each other, like a couple, but they didn’t feel the same to Luna. The white string had a different energy than the red strings all did. Luna watched as the couple’s fingertips brushed together, and then nothing more. But neither one pulled away nervously, as happened with some romantic couples Luna had seen over the years. Also, they had separate drinks. There was none of the ‘sharing one drink with two straws’ cliché. The barista called out Luna’s name, and Luna turned away from the not-couple.

 

That night, Luna learned the meaning of the word _platonic_.

 

After much research, only knowing vaguely what she was even looking for, Luna stumbled upon the word, which sent her tumbling into so much new information she didn’t know how to react. She was trying to sift through what must be true and what might be made up and she didn’t realize how late it was until the sun was shining in her eyes. It didn’t bother Luna much that she had stayed up all night because she had gained new information from it. But she still had so many questions. Like was it possible that white strings attached platonic soulmates just as red strings attached romantic soulmates?

 

Harry’s twentieth birthday party was bigger than Luna thought it would be.

 

It was held under a large tent outside Harry’s friend’s house, and Harry’s friend - Ron - had too many siblings for Luna to count. Luna was hoping to stay near Harry for the most part, but seeing as it was Harry’s party, everyone wanted a conversation with him. Luna ended up sitting alone, observing the guests. One of Ron’s older brothers didn’t have a string. Luna half-wondered if he knew. She had never been sure if all other people who didn’t have strings could also see the mess of strings around them. She wasn’t very good at initiating conversations. Or conversations in general.

 

“Is anyone sitting here?”

 

Luna looked up to see a girl with bold red hair pointing to the chair next to Luna. She looked like she belonged to Ron’s family as well, but Luna couldn’t exactly remember. Luna nodded, and the girl smiled brightly before sitting down. She was holding a plate with a piece of vanilla cake on it and there was a plastic fork stuck in it, standing straight up. The girl didn’t seem very interested in her cake, though, because she spoke again.

 

“I’m Ginny. What’s your name?”

 

Luna almost thought the girl - Ginny - was speaking to someone else. After all, no one had ever really made an effort to get to know Luna apart from Harry, and he was off discussing birthdays and romance and growing up with someone Luna had probably never met before. When it finally occurred to Luna that Ginny was speaking to her, her voice came out quieter than she had anticipated. “Luna.”

 

Luna and Ginny might have talked for hours.

 

Luna was one of the last guests at the party, partially because Harry was her ride home, and Harry wasn’t ready to leave yet, and partially because she had never met someone so easy to talk to. Conversations had always been hard for Luna. It seemed like every person she met saw the world in a different way from her (which was actually quite true considering Luna could see the strings) and had vastly different interests. Talking came easily with Harry _sometimes_ , but with Ginny, it felt like they could talk forever and Luna wouldn’t mind. Well, maybe they would have to stop for snacks and naps, but they could talk forever other than that.

 

The sky had begun to darken when Ginny asked the question.

 

“Can you see the strings too?” It was so quiet Luna thought she might have imagined it. But the way Ginny had looked around before leaning in to ask let Luna know she had most likely heard correctly. As soon as the words left Ginny’s mouth, she looked worried, as if she had said the wrong thing or spoken out of turn or said something uncalled for. Luna was having trouble making her words work so she could respond.

 

Finally, she managed a simple, “Yes.”

 

Ginny let out a breath and her smile returned to her face. “I noticed you didn’t have a string either. I figured it would be easier to ask you than Charlie because I might not ever see you again so it wouldn’t matter if you thought I was crazy. My brother on the other hand…”

 

Luna stopped listening halfway through.

 

She couldn’t stop herself, really, because Ginny had said ‘either’ and that implied Ginny didn’t have a string. But didn’t Luna always, always, _always_ look at the pinky of anyone she ever spoke to even briefly? Had she really not looked at Ginny’s pinky since they started talking? Or had she really just been that oblivious? As Ginny’s voice faded away, Luna looked down at Ginny’s pinky.

 

She heard herself gasp before she could stop herself.

 

It surely hadn’t been there before, but now there was a glowing white string running from Luna’s pinky to Ginny’s. Luna thought back to her research on the word _platonic_ and the not-couple she’d seen connected by a white string. She’d enjoyed the thought of that life being for her, but she knew she didn’t have a string whether white _or_ red, so she pushed the thought to the back of her mind. But could it be that, maybe, she could see everyone’s string but her own?

 

After all, where was the fun in being able to see where your string lead?

 

“Do you see it too?” Luna asked Ginny, her eyes not leaving the string between them. They kept running the length of the string from her pinky to Ginny’s and back again to hers, never looking away. She couldn’t see the expression on Ginny’s face, but she could hear the small gasp that escaped Ginny’s mouth, which must have meant she could see it as well.

 

“What does it mean?”

 

“I think…” Luna was afraid to say what she thought. She still didn’t look up to face Ginny, but Ginny leaned closer and placed her hand on top of Luna’s, making the rope look impossibly short. “I think it means platonic soulmates. So, no romance. Just... friendship.”

 

“That’s great!”

 

Luna looked up at Ginny, then, and couldn’t help but smile herself when she saw the expression on the redhead’s face. She looked as if Luna had just given her the best news in the world, as if she had discovered all of her hopes and dreams had come true and life was finally, _finally_ , going her way and maybe happiness could be hers.

 

Or maybe that was just a bit like how Luna felt.

 

Luna had never been upset about not having a red string. A red string meant romance, and Luna had never been interested in romance. But after reading about platonic relationships, she’d begun to wish somewhere hidden in the back of her mind that she had a white string. And now she did. She had a white string connecting her pinky to the pinky of a girl who she could talk to and who seemed as excited about the idea of platonic soulmates as Luna was.

 

Luna didn’t know what this meant for her future, but she knew she was excited to find out.


End file.
